This year’s SWWG event is a full-day workshop focused on issues and tools with the theme “Protecting Our Water.”
Pre-determined issues include: Quantification; Beneficial and Reasonable Use; Quality; and Interacting with State Pressures and Interests.

The Alpine Watershed Group is hosting an Invasive Species Awareness Day at Grover Hot Springs State Park! Volunteers will be provided lunch and informative presentations on invasive plant prevention, and will participate in an invasive weed pulling session!

Opportunity to work with the State Water Resources Control Board in South Lake Tahoe! The Scientific Aid will work with technical staff under direct supervision of the Senior Water Resource Control Engineer.

Part of the Northern Region’s Interior Fisheries Program, located in Shasta County. Incumbent will conduct biological investigations focused on listed anadromous salmonids, as well as preparing reports summarizing field data.

Resources

The CFCC Funding Fairs provide info about currently available infrastructure grant, loan and bond financing programs!
Attendees may receive copies of all presentations and useful infrastructure financing material.
The Funding Fairs also allow attendees to speak directly with program staff about projects and issues affecting their community!

25 fire scientists from around the world released a new publication “The Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature’s Phoenix” published by Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.

The mission of the Wallace Global Fund is to promote an informed and engaged citizenry, to fight injustice, and to protect the diversity of nature and the natural systems upon which all life depends. Grants are being reviewed on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December.

Mammoth Lakes Film Festival is committed to screening new movies by inspired and innovative filmmakers.
MLFF is a five-day festival that will screen 50 films in Mammoth Lakes, California from May 27 – 31, 2015!

More information, including a full schedule and lineup available here.

Highlight

Foothills Water Network: Conserving the Yuba, Bear, and American Rivers for future generations.

Nevada and Placer County taxpayers, water rate payers, landowners, hikers, anglers, boaters and river conservationists have just discovered a last-minute, far-reaching amendment proposed by Rep. La Malfa, as part of drought bill HR 2898! Foothills Water Network asks NID to rescind request!

LaMalfa’s amendment would require the Nevada Irrigation District purchase two parcels totaling 430 acres for an undisclosed amount of tax and rate payer’s money at “fair market value.” The Nevada Irrigation District (NID) may not have intended that the public lose guaranteed access to the area or to rollback new improvements and protections for the Yuba and Bear rivers, but that is exactly what LaMalfa’s amendment would do.

This Amendment will:

Force sale of publicly-owned lands to local water agency, (potentially limiting public access);

Remove public input to improvements for recreation, healthy fish, and water quality, eliminating the path for citizens to help control impacts of the proposed Centennial Dam on this free flowing river;

Jeopardize 10+ years of carefully negotiated improvements and protections for the Yuba and Bear river watersheds; and

Set an alarming precedent for federally orchestrated land grabs using local taxpayer money to sell public lands, access, and input to high risk water and energy development projects.

Keep public lands in the public’s hands. Ask the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) to rescind their request.

If you would like to support the Sierra Nevada Alliance Initiatives, please click here to contribute to our funding.

The policy of the Resource is to include articles that appear in local or
major media outlets relevant to Sierra conservation. We also include news
releases, event notices, funding opportunities and job announcements sent to
us from our Member Groups and friends. If you as a reader disagree with the
content of a submission we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor of
the issuing publication to reach the broader audience who read the article.
You are welcome to forward your letter to the editor to the Alliance for
inclusion in our new "Letters to the Resource" section. We also invite Letters
to the Resource to be directly submitted on any article with which you're
concerned.

Newsletter contents prepared by Kate Gladstein.
If you have articles, events or announcements that you would like included in this newsletter or if you have feedback, please email Kate Gladstein.

Recent News

Sierra Link: More than half of the wastewater from fracked oil wells in California is disposed of in open, unlined pits, and could contaminate groundwater, according to a recently-issued state-mandated study of hydraulic fracturing. How does this affect state needs and pressures placed on the Sierra for clean water supply?

Sierra Link: Since California passed it’s landmark climate change law (AB 32), we have seen a decade of naysayers claiming that policy implementation would damage our state’s economy and raise energy costs.
None of these predictions materialized; California flourished instead. This article examines how effective policy has improved individual family and the state’s overall economy.

Sierra Link: A federal report indicates that an El Nino weather pattern is gaining in strength – making the chances better that this winter will be a wet one for Northern California and the Sierra Nevada.

Sierra Link: It is fire season once again in the West, and House Republicans are using the public’s fear of forest fires to advance their agenda, which some say all but gives away public forests to logging companies. What does this mean for our Sierra Nevada forests?

Sierra Link: Management of federal forest lands, especially fire suppression and recovery efforts in the wake of giant blazes like the 2013 Rim Fire, could change if two recently proposed laws pass in Congress. This article examines them and potential Sierra impacts.

Sierra Link: Scientists in Nevada and California are helping federal land managers develop technology to expand a network of high-definition cameras to monitor forest fires, including one in northern Nevada that recently captured a blaze in real-time over 100 miles away.

Sierra Link: Twelve million trees across California recently have died from a lethal mix of bugs and long-term drought. Needle-covered trees are unable to secrete the sticky resin to fight off bark beetle infestations.

Sierra Link: Airbnb-like websites spring up in response to overcrowded public campsites. Meanwhile, the potential supply of private land is enormous, and campsites and event spaces can provide landowners with extra income and incentive to keep it undeveloped. How does this affect our Sierra Nevada lifestyle?

Sierra Link: Nearly one-fifth of the raw groundwater used for public drinking water systems in California contains excessive levels of potentially toxic contaminants, according to a decade-long U.S. Geological Survey study that provides one of the first comprehensive looks at the health of California's public water supply and groundwater.

Sierra Link: Activists are challenging revised environmental-impact documents as part of a controversial $15.5-billion plan to build two massive tunnels in the north Delta to ship the water to pumping stations in the South, continuing to funnel water from the troubled estuary. How will our governing bodies' inabilities at recognizing basic hydrologic principles affect our Sierra future?

Sierra Link: State drought regulators issued new water rights curtailment notices to thousands of Californians in an effort to keep a crucial water-use regulation regime on track, though major implementation issues remain. The State Water Resources Control Board delivered notices to 4,600 rights holders, telling them to stop diverting water from California’s rivers and streams.

Sierra Link: the EPA has announced it will spend the next five years studying the effects of glyphosate (more commonly referred to by its trade name, Roundup), atrazine, and two other commonly used pesticides on 1,500 endangered species, including many threatened in our own watershed.

Sierra Link: Walnuts are one of the highest value crops in California, bringing in almost $2 billion annually, but protecting the crop from destructive insects can be costly. Scientists are studying if walnut growers could reduce their pest control costs by employing hungry bats.

Sierra Link: Lake Tahoe was treated to a rare weather occurrence Wednesday July 8th, as a water spout, essentially a very weak tornado over water, formed near the mouth of Emerald Bay along the west shore, just after 9 p.m.

Sierra Link: Ownership of public lands and public roads is a major ongoing issue, particularly in Western states. Over the past few years, many Western states have passed or proposed legislation to study the possibility of transferring ownership of federal lands from the American public to states. This article attempts to identify the issue.

Since 1993 the Sierra Nevada Alliance has been protecting and restoring Sierra lands, water, wildlife and communities. The regional climate change program shapes and implements county and regional resource plans that promote smart land use, incorporate sustainable water management practices, aggressively reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change.